


The Dino Incident

by Burgie



Series: Icarus [2]
Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-06
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-08-19 12:35:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16534685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Trouble lives up to his name and Louisa gets stranded in Dino Valley. Willow belongs to willownorthbook and Daine belongs to HellishSam.





	The Dino Incident

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HellishSam](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HellishSam/gifts), [willownorthbook](https://archiveofourown.org/users/willownorthbook/gifts).



“Trouble, please, please behave yourself,” Louisa muttered under her breath to her bay pinto trakehner as she rode him over to the hot air balloon that was anchored in the Everwind Fields across the road from the bunny race where Landon still stood. Trouble had managed to get across the road easily enough, though he’d given the ever-present ‘patrolling’ bulldozer a sidelong look.

As Louisa dismounted and tipped the hot air balloon’s wicker basket (that she’d once painstakingly repaired) onto its side on the soft, springy green grass that covered all of Jorvik, she remembered how Trouble had already misbehaved today. 

First, he’d spooked at a squirrel in the Southern Mistfall forest, squealing and spinning around to carry Louisa into the lake. She’d had to swim back to shore and go home to get changed into different clothing, all the while resenting her horse. They hadn’t even been training at that point, she’d just been on her way to the Ranger Station. Trouble hadn’t been much better after that, knocking down several of the jumps in the Firgrove cross country tracks and narrowly escaping falling off of the bridge.

And then they’d hit Valedale Lake. Literally. Trouble had fumbled a short hop down the slope (a common shortcut used by many riders in Jorvik) that led onto one of the many sandy beaches surrounding Valedale Lake. Instead of landing on his side, though, Trouble had given a whinny of fear, pinning his ears and rolling his eyes, and then barrelled towards the picnic tables.

“No, not the picnic tables!” Louisa had screamed, clutching his reins and trying to use her Aideen powers (that seemed to only work when they wanted to) to stop him. The only saving grace had been that the picnic tables were not embedded in concrete and could be tumbled end over end into the water. Louisa had landed on the sand, her tailbone hurting, trying to gasp in air so that she wouldn’t have a panic attack. And then she’d glared at Trouble, who’d stood in front of her, head lowered, giving her a sniff. Louisa had grabbed his reins, still glaring at him, and walked him back to Mr Andersson to restart the race and explain to him what had happened.

Now, as Trouble walked into the hot air balloon, he tipped it back up. He gave a whinny as he fell, rolling around so much that Louisa half-expected him to put a hole in the basket. But he managed to get to his feet, peering over the edge of the basket at his fallen rider.

“I hate you,” said Louisa, though there was no venom in it. Trouble gave her a horsey grin, pulling his lips back as Louisa got to her feet. She was aching even more now, though nothing had been broken. Yet. That was a miracle in itself. Louisa climbed into the basket, then fixed up the hot air balloon. Within minutes, they were airborne. Louisa looked down at the ground, watching the green ground pass beneath them. It was relaxing, up here with the wind blowing her hair around her face. Even if it did end up getting stuck in her glasses.

Thankfully, Trouble behaved himself on the way down from the camp that Nic Stoneground had set up, not even acting up from the cold as Louisa had half-expected. Most Jorvegian horses, excluding the fjords, Icelandics, Haflingers, and North Swedish, despised the cold of Dino Valley, refusing to go any faster than a slow gallop. But it was good to train them in an extreme climate. Louisa did wish that there was somewhere other than Dino to do this, though. Especially with the roar of that… whatever it had been still ringing in her ears. Sometimes, Louisa could swear that she could still hear that terrifying roar echoing among the misty mountaintops or shaking the frozen ground, making the dead, frozen branches of the trees clatter together.

“Hey there, Swedenborg,” said Louisa, stopping Trouble in front of the little brown dog. His owner Berzelius, or perhaps one of the other residents of the campground (or just a kind rider) had given him a little pair of blue earmuffs, a little dark blue fleece-lined vest, a red knitted scarf, and little blue fleece-lined booties. She wanted to reach forward to pet the dog but, seeing Trouble’s side-eye, thought better of it. Knowing Trouble, she’d end up sprawled on her back on the ice behind the barrel that Swedenborg stood on.

Just as she’d expected, Trouble pinned his ears and walked backwards a few steps when Swedenborg bleated like a sheep. Swedenborg picked up the stopwatch that sat next to him using his mouth, then bit down to start the timer. As they set off, Louisa admitted that she had a bad feeling about this.

The first section of the race across the frozen lake was okay. Great, even. Trouble managed to jump over the obstacles (shards of ice melted together and stuck into a mound of snow) with ease, not even breaking off any pieces of ice. His hooves barely even slipped on the ice, even with the ice and the slick horseshoes working against each other. 

“Okay, Trouble, big jump coming up,” Louisa warned him, leaning forward in preparation for the jump across the large gap in the ice. This gap had given her so much trouble in the past, she remembered so many experiences of having to climb out of the frozen water after her horse had plunged into the lake. She desperately hoped that Trouble wasn’t about to give her a trip down memory lane (quite literally).

Trouble came to a dead stop, his hooves sliding neatly to the very edge of the ice. Louisa, having been tensed for the jump, flew off of him with a cry of “Trouble!” and landed flat on her back on the ice. Louisa glared at Trouble, the gelding peering at her inquisitively from across the gap in the ice. He had his head lowered, nostrils flaring to take in her scent.

“Trouble,” Louisa said quietly. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and allowed her healing magic to flow through her. She could feel bones mending, including some ribs clicking back into place, which sounded as uncomfortable as it felt. Then, she sat up, her back already wet and freezing from having been flat on her back against the ice. At least she hadn’t lost her glasses.

“Come here,” said Louisa, clicking her tongue as she got to her feet and grimaced at the feeling of her wet butt. Great. Trouble did not ‘come here’. Instead, the gelding gave a proud-sounding nicker, tossed his head with his eyes closed, and trotted off in the direction of Swedenborg. “Trouble! You brat! Get back here!”

In response, Trouble picked up speed until he disappeared from sight. Louisa gave a heavy sigh, closing her eyes. She unzipped her jacket pocket, a fleece-lined denim one that Daine had given to her, and grabbed out her phone. Thankfully, somehow, it wasn’t broken. Louisa held her phone out as she began to shuffle towards the road, glad that it was still daylight and that the fog here was lighter now. She could at least find the road, though she shivered from both the cold and fear. That roar from last Wednesday sure seemed threatening now.

“Come on, come on,” Louisa muttered as she stared at her phone, willing it to get signal. As soon as she had one bar, she sent a message to the group chat.

 _“I should’ve known that a horse named Trouble would be trouble”_ she typed.

 _“What happened?”_ Willow responded.

 _“Are you okay?”_ Daine responded. Louisa smiled, glad that her boyfriend was worried about her wellbeing.

 _“Well, nothing’s broken”_ Louisa responded. _“First, Trouble barrelled into some picnic tables at Valedale Lake. He played up on all the other courses too, but that was the worst. Until we got to Dino. Then he threw me and now I have to walk home from Dino. I’m freezing”_

 _“Oh shit”_ Daine responded. Louisa could just imagine the scared look on his face, remembering that Daine had taken a bad fall in Dino himself. He’d almost fallen through the ice, only Aideen’s influence saving both him and Cloud from the icy water.

 _“Need a ride?”_ Willow asked.

 _“Yes please”_ Louisa replied, her bottom lip trembling at how nice they were being.

 _“I’ll get Cloud and meet you outside the entrance”_ Daine sent. _“Stay off the lake”_

 _“I’ll bring Faith”_ Willow sent. _“Be there soon”_

 _“Thanks, guys”_ Louisa sent, her eyes already burning. She wiped her eyes, knowing that any tears would only freeze on her cheeks.

During the long walk back up the road, stepping over frozen logs frosted with snow and trying not to slip on the icy cobblestone road, Louisa continued to send messages to the group chat. It helped to keep her mind off of the pain and the freezing cold that was currently trying to freeze her limbs. She had healed herself, but the pain still lingered, probably bruises. She didn’t dare try to heal them, though, not wanting to lower her body temperature too much by using too much magic. Though the conversation distracted her from her pain, though, it couldn’t quite distract her from how cold she currently was. She knew one surefire way to warm up, but… oh, hell, they were dating, she was allowed to think about him like this. Expected to, even. 

Thoughts of Daine kept Louisa warm as she walked back along the cobblestone road, aware of the goofy smile on her face and the blush on her cheeks. It certainly did its job, though. Possibly a little too much, but at least she wasn’t scrolling through her photo gallery on her phone. She had many pictures of Daine that always made her blush like a teenager.

“Louisa?” the sound of her name being called jolted Louisa out of her ‘warm’ thoughts. She put her phone back in her pocket, zipping it shut, and hurried over to the campsite where Willow was waiting for her astride a large light bay North Swedish.

“Hi, Willow,” said Louisa, grinning. She stopped in front of her friend, holding her hand out for Faith to sniff before she petted the mare’s large cheek. She looked up at Willow, the smile never fading despite the dark circles that she could clearly see under Willow’s eyes.

“Hey,” said Willow, giving her friend a smile that almost reached her green eyes. Daine was worried about Willow too, Louisa knew. “Need a ride? There’s blankets and a thermos in my saddlebags.”

“Yes please,” said Louisa, already walking around beside Faith to reach into her large brown saddlebag that hung from the saddle. The thermos was wrapped in the blankets, keeping everything pleasantly warm. Louisa uncapped the thermos first, taking a few sips of the hot tea within in an effort to warm her insides. It tasted delicious, sweet and milky, just the way Willow knew she liked it. At least her many ‘cuppa’ sessions with her friends had paid off.

After warming her hands and insides with the tea, Louisa got her phone back out of her pocket and sent another message to the group chat.

_“Willow’s got me. Heading back up now”_

That sent, Louisa climbed onto Faith’s back behind Willow, Willow holding the thermos while her friend got comfortable. Louisa wrapped one blanket around herself, using the other to cover her legs and bury her hands in. She was glad for Faith’s steady gait, knowing that she wouldn’t need to hold onto Willow in order to stay on the horse. She could just focus on warming her hands around the thermos, the heat from it radiating through the blankets to create a rather cozy effect.

“How’ve you been?” Willow asked as they made their way along the frozen path towards the elevator. The torches, put up so long ago, didn’t need to do much to light their way, though they did provide a nice aesthetic.

“Pretty good,” said Louisa. “Just taking it easy, mostly. Training with Vik, hanging with you… stuff like that.”

“Pity he wasn’t training with you today,” said Willow. 

“At least I have you guys to save me,” said Louisa. “And a boyfriend to give me warm cuddles to warm me back up.”

“How’s he been?” Willow asked. “I mean, I’ve still been hanging out with him, but I know that you probably see more of him.” Louisa resisted the urge to turn that into a dirty joke, knowing how Willow felt about that and not wanting to be left in the snow.

“He’s been pretty great, actually,” said Louisa, blushing to be talking about Daine. “The rescue ranch helps him with his anxiety. Mine, too.”

“Is he still treating you okay?” Willow asked.

“Of course,” said Louisa. “I feel really loved when I’m with him.”

“That’s good,” said Willow.

“How are you?” Louisa asked before Willow could distract the attention away from herself again.

“Fine,” said Willow. Louisa knew a lie when she heard one, but she chose not to say anything. Let Willow talk when she was ready, she wasn’t going to push it.

“That’s good,” said Louisa. “And Alex? I know she’s been a bit down lately.”

“She’s been a rock,” said Willow, warmth finally seeping into her voice when she spoke of her girlfriend. Louisa smiled, glad to hear it. “She’s always coming over for movies and just to hang out. I love her so much.” Her eyes shone, and it wasn’t just from the bright pink Pandorian scar splitting her right eyebrow.

“That’s so great to hear,” said Louisa, feeling warmth in her chest. Daine probably talked about her the same way, she realised. His rock. His anchor. It was humbling to think of but she tried not to let it get to her head.

At last, Faith began the climb up the ice shelves beside the elevator. Louisa didn’t trust the elevator enough to use it, especially not when that fall had shaken her nerves. She’d been almost abandoned too many times. And Willow respected her choice, even if it meant taking a slightly longer route.

Towards the top of the path, though, Louisa heard a masculine scream, her heart leaping at the familiar voice.

“What was that?” Willow muttered, looking around.

“Daine,” said Louisa, her heart thudding as fear replaced the feelings of warmth. Willow sighed, urging Faith into a canter as they crested the slope and rode through the icy passage. On the other side, Louisa’s left hand began to throb, the pain centred in her palm. She held her hand out, looking at it with a furrowed brow.

“Hey,” said Daine, waiting for them on Cloud at the top of the slope. He had both hands on the reins and he was wearing gloves, so Louisa couldn’t see any injuries. Her own hands, when she took her gloves off to examine them, were also unhurt.

“Hi,” said Louisa, looking at him with a smile. His answering smile warmed her to the tips of her toes, but now her palm was starting to sting. “Did either of you hurt your hand, by any chance?”

Willow lifted her hands from Faith’s reins, removing her gloves and examining her hands. The Pandorian scar on one was glowing bright pink, but Louisa knew that it wasn’t the cause of the pain that she was feeling. It was in the wrong place, for starters.

“Nope,” said Willow. Louisa looked at Daine again, who was looking somewhat guilty, his smile a little too wide.

“Let’s just go back down to Valedale?” Daine asked, his teeth showing in his grin. “It’ll be warmer there.”

“Daine,” said Louisa, narrowing her eyes at her boyfriend in what wasn’t quite a glare. “What did you do?”

“Fine,” said Daine, the word dragged out of him as he rolled his eyes. “I got a notification on my phone and the noise spooked Cloud and I almost fell off the side of the mountain. I caught myself with my hand and, well, yeah.” He lifted one hand, which had blue blood dripping from it. “Oops.”

“I’m so sorry,” said Louisa, eyes wide, guilt sinking into her.

“It’s fine,” said Daine, waving his hand. Blood dripped from it into the snow, staining the snow blue. “You can heal it when we get to Valedale, okay?”

“Alright but as soon as we get there,” said Louisa. Daine nodded. Louisa pulled her gloves back on, as did Willow, and the three of them rode down the slope following Daine.

Once in Valedale, surrounded by the scents of roses and the sound of the rushing waterfall, Louisa dismounted, leaving the blankets draped over Faith’s back and putting the empty thermos back in the saddlebag. She walked over to Daine, already taking her gloves off so that she could heal him. Daine rolled his eyes, peeling off his gloves and wincing at the injured one, and then dismounted, though he tried to kiss her first once he was on the ground. But Louisa grabbed his injured hand, lacing their fingers together, and sent her healing magic to mend Daine’s broken skin. She did kiss him, though, holding the kiss while the wound healed.

“Better?” Louisa asked once the wound had healed without leaving anything behind but dark blue blood.

“Yes,” said Daine. He cupped Louisa’s face in his hands, leaving a dark blue handprint on her right cheek, and kissed her again. Louisa stepped closer to him, her arms wrapping around Daine’s waist so that she could get more of that precious, wonderful warmth.

Willow cleared her throat behind them, though they didn’t spring apart as they once would have. Instead, their lips parted slowly, Daine’s arms wrapping around his girlfriend’s back down near her hips as he held her close. They both looked over at Willow.

“I’m right here,” said Willow.

“Thanks for bringing me home,” said Louisa. “Or down here, at least. I can’t believe Trouble did that.”

“Hey, no problem,” said Willow. “What are friends for?”

“I guess I should find Trouble now,” said Louisa. She sighed, leaning her head against Daine’s muscular chest. “I didn’t see him on my walk back, but the white parts of him blend in with the snow anyway.”

“I’d offer to help you look but Cloud’s probably a bit too spooked to fly right now,” said Daine. Behind him, Cloud looked at his rider with huge, scared eyes, his ears lowered. Daine idly began to play with Louisa’s hair, thankfully using the hand that wasn’t covered in blood.

“You two go home and recover,” said Willow. “Warm your girlfriend up, calm down that frightened child. I’ll look for Trouble.”

“Are you sure?” Louisa asked, very much enjoying the feeling of Daine’s fingers running through her hair.

“Yeah, go,” said Willow, waving them off. “I’ll let you know when I find him.”

“We’ll join you in a bit,” said Louisa. “Once I warm up.”

“Yeah, definitely,” said Daine, nodding. Willow had the feeling that Daine was only agreeing to make his girlfriend happy, but that was fine. At least Louisa made him less of an asshole. She was a good influence on him.

“I’ll text you,” said Willow, turning Faith to begin the search for Trouble.

“Let’s go home,” said Daine, stepping away from his girlfriend. “I’m tired now.” Louisa could imagine; the adrenaline had made her tired but Daine also had to deal with using his magic to keep his body warm enough.

They rode double back to South Hoof, Louisa winding her arms around Daine and pressing the side of her face into his upper back. She could see Daine smiling when he glanced back at her, a rare sight on him.

“Are you alright back there?” Daine asked. “Koala.”

“You’re keeping me warm,” said Louisa.

“You haven’t been shivering since we kissed, you liar,” said Daine.

“Fine,” said Louisa. “Is it such a crime to want to cuddle my boyfriend?”

“I can think of other ways to warm you up,” said Daine. Louisa blushed.

“I thought you were tired,” said Louisa.

“I am,” said Daine. “Just flustering you, since that always warms you up.”

“I might take a shower when I get home,” said Louisa, reaching a hand up to curl a lock of Daine’s blue-black hair around her finger.

“I’m seriously going to just pass out when we get home, though,” said Daine. “Sorry.”

“I know,” said Louisa. “I was serious about the shower, though.”

Upon reaching South Hoof, Daine left to stable Cloud while Louisa went back to her own house to take a shower. When she emerged from the bathroom, her hair a dark brown and sticking to her face, dressed in clean, dry clothes (a white t-shirt and blue jeans), she walked down the hallway to find Daine passed out on her couch in the front room/lounge room. Louisa smiled at the sight of him, his head pillowed on the folded turquoise sweatshirt with the white leaf pattern that he always gave her to wear. Louisa didn’t want to wake him, but she did really want that sweatshirt.

Daine made a sleepy noise and opened his eyes when Louisa pulled the sweatshirt out gently from under his head. He looked up at her, eyes thankfully normal. They turned a sunset colour when he had a nightmare.

“Hey,” said Daine, his voice a little rough from sleep as he turned onto his side and freed the sweatshirt so that Louisa could wear it.

“Good morning,” said Louisa, grinning down at him as she unfolded the sweatshirt and pulled it on over her head. 

“I was tired,” said Daine.

“I know,” said Louisa, sitting down in the small space at the front of the couch. She bent down to press a kiss to Daine’s forehead, not complaining when he began to play with her hair again. “I feel better after a shower.”

“I’m still tired,” said Daine. “Lie down with me.”

“I have a bed,” said Louisa.

“I’m too lazy to walk,” said Daine. Louisa laughed, shaking her head. But she kissed his nose and then pulled her legs up onto the couch, lying down facing Daine. Daine put his arm around her, brushing their noses together.

“I guess this is okay too,” said Louisa. Daine kissed her, his lips so soft despite what one might think. He took care of himself, at least when it came to his appearance.

“You can read a book or something if you want,” said Daine, looking into her eyes. “Just stay here with me.”

“Oh,” said Louisa, her eyes widening as the realisation set in. “I scared you today, didn’t I?”

“A little,” said Daine. “Okay, a lot. But it’s okay, I just really thought I was gonna lose you.”

“I’m sorry,” said Louisa. She kissed his nose again. “Trouble’s a brat.”

“Please take someone with you next time,” said Daine, his eyes verging on that sunset colour. But they shone with tears, too.

“I will,” said Louisa. “I promise.”

“Good,” said Daine. He pressed another soft kiss to her lips. “Just stay with me. I sleep better with you.”

“Okay,” said Louisa. “Koala.” Daine scoffed, rolling his eyes. But they looked normal now, no longer sunset. Louisa was glad to see it.

As Daine relaxed once more, his arm loosely around Louisa, Louisa rolled over and reached onto the glass coffee table in front of them for a book. This wasn’t the first time that this had happened, after all.

Several hours later, Louisa’s phone buzzed with a text. She put her book down on the table and pulled her phone out of her pocket, looking at it. Then, she laughed.

“What?” Daine murmured sleepily from behind her.

“Willow found Trouble,” said Louisa, handing him her phone. She heard Daine make a confused noise before laughing and handing the phone back to her. The photo showed Willow standing in front of Trouble, who looked like he’d done nothing wrong. The illusion of innocence, however, was ruined by the next picture, showing the steep drop to the bottom of the Great Thunder. Trouble had been found, according to Willow, on one of the shelves of rock that jutted out at the top of the manmade ravine.

 _“How”_ Louisa texted.

 _“He’s your horse, you tell me”_ Willow texted back. Louisa shook her head, laughing.

 _“We’ll come get him soon”_ Louisa texted.

 _“No need, I’ll bring him over”_ Willow replied.

 _“Thanks”_ Louisa texted. With Daine hugging her this tightly, she had the feeling that she wouldn’t be going anywhere for a while. Not that she minded, of course. She wasn’t sure how anyone could mind being stuck in Daine’s embrace.


End file.
